Two People, One Friendship
by yommiee
Summary: AU Arthur and Merlin have been friends seriously long time, now Their friendship is threatened by Professor Cenred and tension. Pairing: Arthur x Merlin Warning: rape i guess...
1. Chapter 1

**Hello :)**

Part 1: Two Close Friends

"Here's grilled veggies in coconut oil, brown rice, steamed carrots, and tomatoes." Merlin listed as he opened container after container. He was setting up the table for breakfast for Arthur Pendragon, his best friend. Merlin had brought over food from his apartment to Arthur's.

"Ew, Where's the protein? I need meat." Arthur grimaced, "and I do not need you to take care of me." The blonde picked up the carrot and sighed in disappointment.

Merlin rolled his eyes, "There is absolutely nothing in your fridge except for meat, and please, you won't last a week without my help." He went to the kitchen and put on a blue apron and rolled up the sleeves of his maroon crookneck.

"Whatever, _Mer_lin." Arthur began to eat. "Oh and putting that aside, you want to come to the my Fraternity/sorority Christmas gathering tonight?" He was stuffing his face quickly as he checked the time, it was almost for him to meet his frat.

Merlin paused then continued to wash the dishes, "why do you ask when you already know the answer?"

Arthur shrugged. "I don't know, maybe one day you'll change your mind… so you coming?"

The raven-haired man sighed, "Nope, and besides I have a meeting with my Language Professor."

The other furrowed his brows, "but that doesn't mean you can't make it to my gathering,"

Merlin stayed silent.

The other shivered, "and besides, something about him gives me the creeps." Then he finished his plate, "Hey while you're in the kitchen, make me a protein shake."

"Yes sire." He replied with sarcasm.

Arthur started nodding, "I like the sound of that, so technically you'd be my manservant."

"Whatever you want."

Merlin had been Arthur's friend for most of Arthur's live and all of Merlin's. Merlin's mother had to give him away the week he was born. Balinor, Merlin's father, was killed protecting him when he was in his mother's womb. Hunith did not have enough money to care for Merlin, so before child protection services could take him away from her completely, she asked Gaius to help her. Gaius was like a father to her, and he was a physician; he took in Merlin, he just said "well, if I'm going to play with Uther's brat why not take in another."

Arthur was kind of a dick to Merlin, but he was three… It eventually got better… kinda...

In a serious note though, Arthur kept an eye out for Merlin, When he was in highschool, Arthur made sure that no one was to mess with him; it wasn't Merlin's fault that he was a scrawny kid that people liked to tease. He and Arthur eventually got close to the "knights." They weren't really knights, the girls just had a thing for Arthur and his group.

o.o.o.o.o

The two of them left for campus and bickered the whole way there, everyone they passed rolled their eyes and chuckled, no matter where the two were they would always banter about the stupidest things.

While Arthur skipped class to prepare for his party, Merlin went to Professor Cenred's office hours. The professor had his wavy hair tied loosely to the side, and Merlin had his maroon crewneck on. "Merlin, your paper was pretty acceptable, I believe it might be necessary for you to get more help."

Merlin frowned 'I'm pretty sure the writing center said it was one of the best papers they had to edit.' he thought. He began to feel uncomfortable, he could feel professor Cenred's eyes wandering about.

"Don't take it to heart though." Cenred stood from his desk and walked to the other side to sit in the chair next to Merlin. "You are a really interesting student, I recommend we meet again and go over the paper in depth, I have another student coming in a few minutes." He looked at his watch and then reached for his planner, "I have time at seven tonight, would that be okay?"

"I-I decided to go somewhere tonight."

"That frat party am I right? The annual Christmas frat and sorority gathering is known for having a bad reputation." Cenred crossed his legs; his right foot lightly nudged Merlin's calf. The student stood up quickly and stuttered, not knowing what to say.

"I-I, I-It was-I c-can't"

Cenred chuckled, amused by Merlin's overreaction. "Merlin, the paper is due on saturday, you won't have enough time to fix it if you go to the party, I thought you understood that your grades are more important than getting drunk." Cenred smirked.

"I guess…" Merlin licked his dry lips, he had a horrible feeling about this.

o.o.o.o.o

Loud music blasted at the Alpha Pi Kappa house and Arthur was moving about throwing decorations at the freshman to put up. The sun was setting and the air was getting crispy. He spotted Gwaine flirting with sorority girls, he was already consuming large amounts of beer and cheetos. "Gwaine! Hey!"

Gwaine looked up and raised a hand to acknowledge the greeting, but continued to flirt with the giggling girls.

"Idiot," Arthur muttered with a smile.

"Hey Arthur, is Merlin going to crack and come tonight?" It was Lancelot, all the girls next to Gwaine snapped their gaze to Lancelot, giggled, and sighed. Gwaine gave a oh-come-on face and when his attempts to get the girls back to his world failed he walked over to Arthur and Lancelot where the couch and tables were.

"Yeah, he isn't going to come, he said something about meeting a professor."

"But isn't that already over?" Gwaine asked, stuffing more cheetos into his face.

"Hey, stop eating that." Arthur snached the bowl from him. "I don't know, he should come, I mean like he's a freshman-"

"Technically a sophomore" Lancelot added.

"Fine, He's a first year and he should at least try to make friends." The blonde finished. "I don't know how he's going to make it once we graduate. He isn't even dorming!" He leaned on the back of the blue couch and hunched his shoulders.

"Ah, He'll probably do fine, he already has George." Gwaine joked. Reaching again for the chips.

"eh, George is such a stuck up." Arthur muttered while slapping his friend's hand away from the snack.

o.o.o.o.o

"Please, stop!" Merlin pleaded, his head was pushed down to the red carpet of the professor's office. It smelled of dust, and it was painful. The carpet was rough and thin; a bruise was sure to form on his cheekbone.

"Merlin, I'm sorry, but you have his special… special aura, it's as if you're begging for me." Cenred said as he unbuckled Merlin's belt. Once the task was done, his hand slipped up his student's crookneck and felt the softness of the skin.

The student shook and could not control the tears forming in his eyes. He felt sick and dirty. He did not want this, he did not want any of it. "please… let me go…" he barely whispered out.

o.o.o.o.o

At the gathering, Leon and Arthur was at the door welcoming the goers and warning them about not acting like a douche, but in their heart they knew, they knew it was inevitable.

"Ayyy! Morgana! Gwen!" Arthur gave his crooked smile and gave the girls hugs. "I didn't know you were going to make it!" He awkwardly stood there looking at Gwen.

Morgana and Gwen have been as close as sisters since middle school; Gwen was two years younger than Morgana, but that didn't stop them from becoming the best of friends. Gwen; however, held Arthur's heart and crushed it. She did not mean to, but Arthur just never told her how much she meant to her, if he had he wouldn't have been awkwardly ripping the label off his drink.

Morgana was not smiling, she pressed her lips thin and gave Arthur a glare. "Who blackmailed us into going? Oh you don't know? I know exactly who it is you bastard!"

Gwen smiled, and went ahead and greeted the rest of the people there.

Arthur moved out of her way and faced Morgana with a forced grin. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

o.o.o.o.o

Professor Cenred cupped his student's chin and looked straight into his eyes, Merlin was scared and in pain. The larger man shoved two fingers in Merlin's mouth, "suck." Cenred felt the warmth of the younger's mouth, it was wet and soft until Merlin suddenly bit down, it caused Cenred to curse and to retreat his hand. "Damn it! I was going slow to make it less painful," he pulled Merlin's hair back. "I was going to prepare you," He stared straight into Merlin's fearful eyes. "You're going to have to make sure you suck well, the better you are at lubricating my stick, the less it's going to hurt."

Merlin's eyes were wide open, he felt bile coming up.

o.o.o.o.o

"IT LOOKS LIKE MERLIN ISN'T GOING TO COME!" Gwaine yelled over the music as he came back from dancing with some ladies.

"I HOPE HE'S AT LEAST HAVING FUN READING OR DOING WHATEVER HE LIKES TO DO." Lancelot replied taking a sip of sprite.

"HE'S PROBABLY HAVING THE TIME OF HIS LIFE CRYING ABOUT STAR TREK!" Arthur laughed as he was pulled away by Morgana to play Mafia.

o.o.o.o.o

Arthur was right about one thing, Merlin was crying, but not because Spock died in the Wrath of Khan, but because his dignity, pride, and security were being destroyed.

With every grunt and every thrust, a part of him died. Merlin no longer fought back, he had nothing to save, he was already dead inside.

**Please review and tell me what you think :P**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi:) second part, enjoy**

Part 2: A Dead Man and A Guilt Filled Man

The next morning, Arthur woke up with a headache; he looked at his phone and it was 5:00 PM, "Oh My God!" He scrambled out of bed and into the bathroom, he was supposed to have lunch with Merlin at 3, he brushed his teeth frantically he was about to call Merlin, but he noticed three messages from his friend.

_Hey Arthur, I won't be able to make it to lunch today._

_Sorry_

_oh and I left breakfast outside your door._

The blonde stopped brushing and stared at his phone. "Well, I had to pee anyway." He spat, pissed, and went back to bed grumbling about having to get up for nothing. But then remembered the food outside, so he grumbled and crawled to his front door to get it.

o.o.o.o.o

The Raven-Haired freshman was curled up on his bed, he did not sleep that night, he washed himself three times, brushed his teeth three times, and cried… everything hurt. He did not know what to do, he felt dirty and afraid. His apartment was dark and empty, he tried to forget about Professor Cenred by making Arthur's breakfast, but that only lasted half an hour. It was hard for him to leave the house to deliver the meal, but he was able to walk twenty minutes without getting a panic attack.

He had to wear a hat in order to hide his face, it was bruised up, his arms were not that different, there were marks in the shape of fingers; it was as if Cenred was trying to hold him always.

He hugged himself tighter. "I want to die."

o.o.o.o.o

When Monday came, Merlin felt insecure, he had kiss marks on his chest, yellowing bruises on his arms and face, how was Arthur going to react. He vowed to avoid Arthur until all evidence of him being violated disappeared. However, it was hard for Merlin to let anyone touch him, when Arthur gave him a pat on the back, he flinched hard. Arthur joked about how strong he was getting, but the lack of bantering got him worried. Merlin then avoided him.

A week passed, and it was the longest time Arthur and Merlin have not seen each other for. Arthur was worried and scared that he did something to offend Merlin, at first he did not think much of it since every morning a meal was waiting at his door, but he was still worried.

"You know I haven't seen Merlin in class lately." Gwen said when she and the gang hung out. She was also a freshman, so she took the same GE's as Merlin. "Which is really weird since he's a perfect attendance type of guy.

Gwen, Arthur, Gwaine, Lancelot, Leon, and Morgana was eating lunch together at the Campus Diner. It was saturday, and they wanted to take a break from the doing homework.

"Hey Arthur have you seen him?" Lancelot asked.

Arthur shrugged, "Not really, I mean I know he's alive, he's been leaving food at my door every morning, but I haven't actually seen him."

"What the hell man?" Leon asked, "he cooks for you?" Leon took a bite out of his meal and grumbled, "I want Merlin's food, he cooks like a freaking madman, a good madman."

"Yeah, ever since he looked at my protein-only filled fridge. And he only gives me healthy stuff, I mean like it's good, but he should really understand that I need yummier food."

"Yeah, complaining much aren't you?" Lancelot scoffed.

"Wow… you are the epitome of a brainless muscle man." Morgana commented.

"haha, very funny Morgana. Just because you have a rabbit diet and I don't does not mean I'm stupid."

Morgana blew air through her nose and placed a hand on her chest, "I do not have a rabbit diet."

"She didn't even imply that you idiot," Gwaine laughed. "Which reminds me, where is that muscle-head Percival?"

"He's with Elyan trying to not fail their upcoming final, if they fail it they won't be graduating." Gwen explained. Finals were coming soon, but the seniors were procrastinating.

The blonde could not feel worried aboit his friend. Arthur put on his red Letterman Jacket and stood up. "I'm going to check up on Merlin." He said his goodbyes and left for his friend.

o.o.o.o.o

When Arthur was in front of Merlin's apartment door, he hesitated; he, however, mustered up the courage to knock. There was a sudden thump and and footsteps to the door, and instead of the door opening the sound of the door being locked rang like a bomb, then there was no sound for a while. Arthur knocked again, but no answer. "Merlin! I know you're in there!" Still no answer. "Well I'm going to wait out here until you open up!"

o.o.o.o.o

Merlin was in bed when he hear a knock at the door, he froze, he feared that it was Professor Cenred who was at the door; usually Arthur and his other friends just come in, there was no one he knew who had the courtesy of knocking. He knew his door would be unlocked, so he quickly got out of bed, but his body still ached, his knees gave out and he fell, then struggling he ran to the door to lock it.

"Merlin! I know you're in there!"

When the boy heard the familiar voice he first felt relief, but then he felt ashamed and dirty.

"Well, I'm going to wait out here until you open up!"

Fear ran down Merlin's body. He knew Arthur would do it, when he was rejected by Freya in highschool and refused to talk to him, Arthur camped out Merlin's door for two days. He looked at his hands, they were raw from being washed so much. He then saw the state of his body, blue, purple, and yellow; he quickly ran to the bathroom to wash again and try to scrub the dirty feeling off of him. 'Why is he here?! I'm not clean enough!" He frantically scrubbed. "Ow!" he hissed, his skin on his hands cracked and began to bleed. He didn't know what to do, he was filthy no matter what he did, it killed him again.

o.o.o.o.o

When the sky darkened and the air chilled, Merlin opened the door to let Arthur in.

"Well took you a long time. I'm so freaking hungry, lets eat" Arthur said, he then opened his eyes to a room dark and messy. "What the hell happened here?" He turned back to see Merlin exhausted.

Merlin was pale, his cheeks were yellow and there were dark bags under his blue eyes. His face was smaller than usual. He was wearing two sweaters and sweatpants as if he was trying to hide something from the world.

"M-Merlin, what?" The Blonde couldn't look at his friend for any longer.

"Let me make you something." Merlin said dodging the question. "You said you were hungry." But when he opened his white refrigerator he froze.

"What's wrong?" Arthur entered to kitchen and saw Merlin to flinch. "Merlin?" He walked closer to the fridge. There was absolutely nothing in the fridge. "Merlin… What is this?" Arthur grabbed the boy's wrist, it was thin and bone-ier than usual. "Have you not been eating?!" His face was red.

Merlin couldn't answer.

"You've been making me food all this time, but what have you been running on? air? You need to eat!" Arthur grabbed both sides of Merlin's arms.

"A-Arthur, please let go." He whispered, Arthur was going to see how dirty he was, how unworthy, how violated he was. Merlin lowered his head.

"Tell me what happened! Why haven't you been going to class?" He paused, "did the professor do anything to you?" Arthur gripped harder.

Merlin tried to escape from the older man's grasp, but ended up revealing the wounds on his hands.

Being a jock, Arthur quickly grabbed his hands. "What is this? Merlin. PLEASE tell me!"

"WHY? Why should I?"

"Because I Lo- You're my friend!"

"Arthur… I can't." Merlin lowered his head lower and tried to shield his face with his captured hands.

The blonde let go of the shorter one and groaned, "You are so frustrating!" Merlin retreated into the corner, dropped to curl up into a ball, and began spill tears silently. When Arthur saw the tears flow down his friend's face he froze, he never saw him cry. It was always Arthur who cried, he cried when his father was in danger of dying, when Merlin was missing for a few days, when he was rejected by Gwen. "You-you're crying…"

Merlin tried so hard to keep himself from letting out a sound; he shook and bit his cheeks to stop the tears from escaping his eyes.

Arthur stood there in shock, no one moved until the tears dried up.

o.o.o.o.o

"You were raped." Arthur stated, it was no question, he knew… he knew very well that his best friend was raped. He cautiously moved towards Merlin; Merlin just cowered more into the corner. Arthur grew angry, very, very angry. "Who?" When the victim shook his head, Arthur snapped. "WHO! Why are you protecting him? WHO IS HE?" Then he realized who, "Cenred." Arthur cursed and slammed his fist on the wall. Then he couldn't control himself and rushed to Merlin. "Why, why?" He was confused, Merlin was confused and scared, Arthur was dangerously close. Then he planted a kiss on Merlin's lips.

Suddenly a punch landed on Arthur's left cheek.

The jock gingerly touched his face. "Merlin, please, I love you." Arthur froze, the words came out suddenly, he was never going to say those words.

"Stop shitting me." Merlin spat. "You don't love me, you still love Gwen." He was angry, confused, and sad.

Arthur slapped his lips unto Merlin's once more. The freshman was pushed down to his back but another punch, a struggle, and a protest came; however, Arthur did not stop. Merlin's struggle died down, and his arms dropped to his side and he remained motionless. The kiss was one sided, but it cooled down and it was as if Arthur was trying to make it so gentle that it would make up for the pain he caused his friend. When he raised his head he regretted everything.

"Are you satisfied?" Merlin said without emotion. His cheeks were wet and his eyes red. He did not have any energy nor the life to say anything else.

"Don't cry." Arthur too was stunned from his actions. "Don't cry," he repeated.

They stared at each other in silence.

"Don't cry."

**Please tell me how it was, I love reviews! Whoo... yeah... sorry**


	3. Chapter 3

**Part 3 please enjoy**

**Warning: is not that edited... so sorry as well**

Part 3: A Chance to Atone for his Sins

Arthur and Merlin was peanut butter and jelly; they were two sides of the same coin; they were brothers from another mother, but they_ were_. For two weeks neither of them talked to each other. Merlin eventually came out of his room and hung with his group, but he was always cautious with Arthur. Lancelot eventually asked what their deal was, but no one knew and no one had the courage to ask. Merlin tried his hardest to avoid Cenred as well. He would leave lecture with the crowd, enter with the crowd; he would avoid his emails and skip office hours, until he received an email from the dean of humanities. His grades in his Lang class was dropping too low for his major. He was to go to office hours and see what he could do to prevent it. Merlin was walking down the hall when he read it, he paused and fear took over.

o.o.o.o.o

"What do you think is wrong with Merlin?" Lancelot asked for the fifth time.

Morgana shrugged, "I don't know, maybe their bickering became too intense." Then flipped through her book. It was finals week and everyone was freaking out - except for Percival and Elyan, they were the smart ones who didn't procrastinate.

"He seemed a little tense around Arthur lately," Leon commented as he came out of his nap. There were bags under his red eyes and his hair was everything but neat and controlled. "Do you think they got into a little brawl? Remember a few weeks ago, Merlin had a bruise on his cheeks."

"Yeah, I was shocked, who in the world in the right mind would hurt those beautiful cheekbones." Gwaine said, he was lying on the library carpet, "Seriously, Merlin has one of the sharpest cheekbones."

Lancelot threw Gwaine's notebook at him, "You should be studying, not playing games on your phone." Then he looked for the subject of the conversation. Merlin was no where to be found. He was supposed to come over and study with them - Arthur too.

"We should have an intervention," Gwen said. She too was worried about their friendship, seriously it was almost impossible to see one without the other.

Just then a blonde haired someone came to the table, "sorry I'm late guys, I had something to do." He looked disheveled and red-faced; he was out of breath and angry.

o.o.o.o.o

(Two hours ago)

Merlin stood in front of Arthur's door with a container filled with food. The boy knew it was time to confront his friend, but he couldn't bring himself to knock on the blue door. He was planning on going to the study group with him and on the way explain everything. For a few more minutes, Merlin held his pose, right arm ready to knock and the other frozen at his side. Suddenly the door swung open and he was face to face with Arthur.

Arthur was surprised as well; they stood silently for what felt like a lifetime. Merlin was the first to break the silence.

"I-I brought food."

"I was about to leave for the study group." Arthur straightened up. He could see the panic is Merlin's eyes.

The younger lowered his eyes and clenched his jaw. "Did you have lunch?" The tension was really thick, it became hard to breath deeply.

"Come in." Arthur motioned.

Merlin went into the kitchen and placed the food on the counter. He was going to reach for a plate, but they were all in the sink. "You really should wash your dishes right after you eat."

"I always get too lazy."

Merlin put on an apron and grabbed the gloves.

Then there was a slam. Merlin jumped.

"Why are you here Merlin?" Arthur was red, he wasn't angry at his friend, he was angry at himself, he wasn't there when Merlin needed it the most and instead of helping him he took advantage of the boy.

"I…" He bit his bottom lip. His back was facing the other. He tried again, "I'm going to confront Cenred today."

It was very awkward. Too many pauses, too much silence.

"Don't." Arthur strained out.

"I'm going to." Merlin whispered.

"Why did you come here?" Arthur huffed, "Why did you come to see me?!"

There was a long pause.

"Because you're my friend."

"Not anymore." Arthur replied. He hated it. He hated causing pain to his friend; he didn't want to deal with it anymore.

o.o.o.o.o

"Welcome Merlin."

'I don't want this, I don't want to go into this room, I feel sick.' He thought. Then he took a deep breath and went into the room again. "Professor, I'm going to get to the point. My paper was not just acceptable, it was good -very good - and…" He whimpered out.

"Oh Merlin, I already knew that… I just wanted to spend time with you." Cenred grew closer and closer. He raised his left hand and brushed Merlin's hair behind his ears. "I was beginning to get sad, you keep avoiding me."

Merlin wanted to escape from his touch and yell, but fear closed his throat.

o.o.o.o.o

"What the heck man, what happened?" Gwaine asked. He got up from the floor and faced the red faced friend. "You alright?"

"Yeah, just fine." Arthur replied. He pulled out the wooden chair and sat down forcefully.

"Oh bitch please, you are not fine, what the hell happened between you and Merlin, you guys were so together it got disgusting." Morgana snapped. She then lowered her voice because people were shushing her. "Tell us the fuck what happened."

"Nothing happened." The blonde said. "Don't worry…" He drifted off. Then out of no where he looked around and then called for Lancelot, "come with me." He pulled the studying man from his seat and dragged him.

When the two were alone, Arthur let out a quiver. "Merlin was raped."

Lancelot's eyes widened and his jaw dropped; he tried to grasp what he just heard.

Arthur looked so ashamed, "I know you're really close to him… Just… I don't know what to do." There was a pause again. "When I learned about it, I kissed him…"

"The fuck?" was the two words Lancelot could get out.

"I don't want to see him again… I don't want to give him pain."

Lancelot froze, wide eyed and could not form a sentence.

"He's going to confront… the guy who raped him… He asked me for help, but I just… told him to go." Arthur hated himself and he wanted Lancelot to go be the hero for Merlin. He felt unworthy to get that close.

Lancelot then landed a punch. "Go to him you fucking asshole!" Then he mouthed ow while walking back to the group.

o.o.o.o.o

Arthur began running to Cenred's office at full speed. It was his turn to take care of Merlin. When they were children, Merlin would always help him out. He would make sure Arthur did his homework, got dressed, and made friends; but now it was now Arthur's turn to care for his friend.

"Cenred you bastard!" He yelled as he slammed the door open.

It was only Merlin in the room. His back was facing Arthur.

"Merlin?" He cautiously walked forward.

Merlin flinched and began wiping his face. "Sorry I was just on my way out." He lowered his head more and tried to walk past Arthur.

The blonde stopped him, "How do you expect to go outside so disoriented?" When he saw Merlin's face pink and his eyes glossy he embraced him. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

Merlin tried to push him away. But his arms failed him and hugged Arthur back.

"It's okay, he didn't do much…" He closed his eyes and felt Arthur's warm body fill him with comfort.

Arthur knew exactly what Cenred made Merlin do, he didn't care, he just embraced Merlin like there was no tomorrow.

"I might kill him." Arthur warned. Then he looked at Merlin's eyes. "I'm so sorry; I have been a jerk." Then he leaned in for a kiss.

Merlin turned his head, "No, he made me use my mouth… I'm dirty"

Arthur went in for it anyway. "I don't care, you are not dirty, you're just Merlin."

**please Review :)**


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